Role of Personal Credit Information Center

With adequate and proper collection, filing, and submission of credit information by the Personal Credit Information Center, arrears or uncollected loan losses on consumer loans or credit are prevented, and a household's bankruptcy caused by overloan or overcredit would be avoided.Moreover, loans will be more accessible to consumers if credit check procedures become more swift.The Personal Credit Information Center is established for the smooth development of consumer credit, and plays an important role to improve individuals' daily life.

It was in 1973 that the first personal credit information center was established by the Tokyo bankers association to provide the service for member institutions on a regional basis. In line with the growth of consumer finance markets, 24 other bankers associations followed suit till October 17, 1988, at which time the centers were consolidated to a unit of Japanese Bankers Association (the Association). At this time, the service is offered by the Association on a nation-wide basis for 1,174 member institutions.

Apart from the consolidation, the Association developed a system through which personal credit information is shared with other institutions. The system, called CRIN, has been in service since March 1987 as described in Appendix 1,2,3. At present, the system's members are the Association, the Credit Information Center owned by installment credit companies and the Japan Credit Information Reference Center Corp. owned by consumer financing companies.